After a morning of work, I hitched up the trailer, loaded the bike, and hit the road. This is what it looked like. All of it. The entire three and a half hours of driving. Nothing but flat, straight, and corn fields, with the occasional small town or collection of wind turbines to break it up. This has to be one of the most boring driving days I’ve had. I’m not really complaining, because I’d much rather have a boring day than a bad kind of excitement, like things going wrong. All I could do was set the cruise control to the 55 mph speed limit, let people pass me (there was plenty of room), and put down some miles. I was even on the same road the entire way, US 136. One of the few moments of excitement I had was when I crossed Route 66, which I drove in almost its entirety two years ago.
I put on the latest episode of Adventure Rider Radio to pass the time and thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Ted Simon, author of Jupiter’s Travels. In 1973, he began a four-year motorcycle adventure across 45 countries. I read it years ago, but what I enjoyed most about this interview was his reflections about life, the universe, and everything at age 92, how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. Despite being nearly half his age, our philosophies are quite similar, and we agree on many things. I think a big reason why is that we’re both travelers. Whether you ride an old Triumph to 45 countries or drive a van to 45 states, it gives you a unique perspective on life. Mark Twain wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
I stopped at this picnic area along the way, one of the few shady spots with trees. I took Lister for a walk on the leash so we could both stretch our legs and explore a bit. It was a nice break from the monotony of the flat, straight drive. I also love that happy little trot Lister does when we go for leash walks together. That’s how I can tell he really enjoys them, both the chance to explore as well as doing something fun with me.
Our overnight stop was nothing glamorous, Chateau Walmart in Macomb, Illinois. A sign on the edge of town told me that this is the home of Lizzie Magie, the inventor of the game Monopoly. This isn’t entirely true. Yes, in 1902 she invented The Landlord’s Game, which would eventually evolve into the game of cutthroat capitalism we know today. But Magie was a progressive, and originally wrote two sets of rules. One is the game we’re familiar with. The other rules taxed the rich and spread the money around more evenly to show how everyone benefits this way. It’s funny how once the large game companies got their hands on the idea, only the capitalist version remained. We’re still dealing with conflicts between these two very different schools of thought more than 120 years later.
Speaking of capitalism, I’d delayed my supply run until now, knowing that I’d be spending the night at this Walmart anyway. I picked up a $25 DVD player, the least expensive they had, now that I have my DVD collection back from storage. Much to my surprise, its power cord didn’t have a 110-volt plug like my TV, but a USB plug! It included a 110-volt adapter for ordinary household use. But this isn’t an ordinary household, so I stashed the adapter and plugged it directly into a nearby USB charging port. It works perfectly. Granted, it doesn’t save me much power because I have to run my TV off the inverter anyway, but it’s the principle of the thing. I’ll have to use it for a while to see how well it works, but if all goes well, I’ll be able to recommend this particular DVD player for life on the road. I’ll keep you posted.
Wi-Fi at both Walmart and the adjacent Starbucks was quite unreliable, with frequent disconnections. I had a clear sky for Starlink, but I didn’t want to climb up to the roof to set up the dish, so I just used a hotspot for the night. Lister woke me up early in the morning, so I left Walmart for Veterans Park, less than a mile away. This place has everything, including reliable Wi-Fi, surprisingly. I parked out of the way, let Lister roam outside, and settled in to write this and get some work done. We’ll get back on the road this afternoon, and relax in air conditioning while we drive through the hottest part of the day.
Originally, I thought this post was going to be about absolutely nothing at all, just a few sentences about the flat, straight, and boring drive. Clearly, my mind wandered a bit, getting all philosophical and historical in the same post. I guess the coffee kicked in.
Smokey Da Van 